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Salary Negotiation Letter

Sometimes it’s necessary to write a salary negotiation letter to clarify your position and ask for higher pay or a raise. It can be scary–especially in a tough economy, but do yourself a favor and make it happen! While we recommend you do as much negotiation as possible in person, over the phone, through a recruiter, or even an HR rep–a letter can be a powerful way to justify your request for more money.

A joint study by George Mason University and Temple University surveyed employees across many jobs and industries. People who chose to negotiate (rather than accepting the company’s first offer) got an average of $5,000 more in annual pay. And that starting salary builds on itself. Let’s give an example. Two people start a job at the same time, both getting offers of $50,000. One accepts the $50,000, and the other negotiates for an extra $5,000, bringing her salary up to $55,000. Now, if they both perform equally well and thus receive the same percentage raises throughout their careers, the one who negotiated the higher starting salary earns $600,000 more over a 40-year career.

That’s right: $600,000.

Now do you see why you MUST know how to negotiate?

Writing Your Salary Negotiation Letter

A well-crafted salary negotiation letter must do two things:

Notify employers of your interest in a negotiating for higher pay and,

Justify why you deserve it.

Note: the letter must also deliver one more critically important message, which we will reveal later in the article.

Choose your situation to get FREE sample salary negotiation letters and your strategy for how to negotiate.

New Job: Two LettersNotifying the employer of your intent to negotiate typically requires a separate letter from the justification because you most likely lack a personal relationship with the hiring manager or HR rep. Formalizing the request is the best way to get the ball rolling. Once the employer has responded (either via an email or a call), you can begin the process of justifying your request. Like the figure above shows, you can make a lot more money by switching jobs and negotiating.

The power of your new job salary justification depends on how strong you will be in the job versus your competition and the strength of their job offer versus their competition.

Your Competition
Outshining your competition already happened because you received the offer, right? When asking for more money than offered, the shine can’t end there. You have to pound it into the employer’s mind that you are so superior to any other candidate that they would come across that you’re worth the extra money you requested.

Their Competition
Employers compete for the best talent. You ARE that talent so they want to hire you. Their offer has to be more than competitive—it has to be superior. If the quality of their offer is inferior to the market, then your justification for higher salary will be perceived as reasonable. Believe it or not, most of the time, employers don’t know how their offers stack up versus their competition.

Promotion: One Step
By initially having a verbal conversation with your manager about increasing your promotion salary, any letter you write would briefly mention your intent to negotiate while spending most of the time on justification.

The best salary negotiation letters leave no doubt that your past results are the best indicators of future performance in your new role. You think that already happened since you received the promotion, right? Not quite. Now you’re asking for more money, which means you must absolutely convince them that you’re worth more than they planned to pay you. If they don’t have that confidence, you won’t get the additional money.

Raise: One StepNegotiating your raise will give your paycheck the extreme increase you want. By initially having a verbal conversation with your manager about a potential raise, any letter you write would briefly mention your intent to negotiate while spending most of the time on justification.

Justification for increasing raise salary hinges on convincing your employer that your past results will ensure superior performance in the future. You think that already happened since you received the raise, right? Not quite. Now you’re asking for more money, which means you must convince them that you’re worth more than they planned to give you.

Credible Threat
The ultimate power in a salary negotiation is walking away. Companies spend thousands of dollars to get people in the seats to interview, or in the case of a raise or promotion, they don’t want to spend money on a replacement. If there’s a credible threat that you’ll walk away from the offer or leave your job, companies tend to negotiate. Here’s the secret no employer wants you to know:

It is cheaper to increase your salary than it is for them to search for new candidates.

Even though the economics are in your favor, subtlety in communicating credible threat is a must. You can’t give an ultimatum to an employer to meet your salary demand. You have to say that you’re willing to walk away from the offer, promotion or raise, without saying it.

The Upside
Fortune favors the bold. Remember, people who negotiate make $500,000 more than those who don’t. I’ve helped thousands of people achieve their dreams through salary negotiation. Let me guide you through your process so you can make more money now and throughout your career.

Can you afford NOT to negotiate?

What to Do Next

Get your customized salary negotiation guide and three (3) salary negotiation letters. Simply click the image below to get started. Only $3.99 could get you thousands of dollars more per year. You deserve it.

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49 thoughts on “Salary Negotiation Letter”

I filled out your form, but wanted to make sure you received this. I need a salary negotiation letter. My offer is not nearly as strong as I thought it would be and I need at least $5,000 more. I look forward to hearing from you.

I received a verbal offer for a position today at a local community college. They offered me salary at the first level of a six level tier. My recent professional experience has a combination of 10 years at the University level and my qualifications extend far above the base duties. Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi,
I have been offered a job in Muscat, Oman in the same healthcare segment in which currently working in Mumbai, India.
I want to relocate with my Wife and have to negotiate on the basis of my responsibilities for my family here in India ( parents and a brother and a sister ) as well as to save a good sum staying away from my home.
They are providing family accommodation and utility bills to a limit.
I want to write a mail regarding the negotiation to a handsome amount fulfilling all my needs.
Kindly, suggest a proper way so that i can negotiate successfully with company’s GM (who took my interview personally in India).

I work as a consultant for a business. I run their customer service responses from their website and set up products within their ecommerce site. I’m not an employee of the company, but a contractor. I’ve been at 15/hour for 3 years and would like to negotiate an increase.

I have been promoted! However the Salary is not as my expectation. It”s much lower than salary scale in my commpany. Now I think that at current time i have to learn And try to get more and more experience in this new position! And I should accept the offered salary. I want to write letter to say thankyou for the chance the company give me, and wish my salary will be reviewed and the same with the Company salary scale for my position.
Thank you for your supporting! Your web is very helpful to me!

I have been employed since April 2012 and have fulfilled a new role since June 2013. I’m in the process of receiving my offer in writing although the figures have been discussed already with only a 5% increase. The position is for IT Site Manager in Sasolburg.

I am working as a Business Intelligence Analyst. And now I have been offered a position of S/W analyst for $65,000. I was expecting around $75,000 but they said they can’t do $75,000. They are offering me the final offer at $68,000.

Good day. I hope you could help me out. I recently got a job offer but the salary is less than my expectations. The general director mentioned that he’ll give me some nursing supervisor tasks in consideration of my past experiences. sad to say, the offer was half of what i receive from my previous work and it’s not enough to cover all my monthly expenses. i want to make an appeal if he could make adjustment to suffice the financial needs of my family. Thank you

Hello,
for the past two years i have been employed under a maternity leave contract in an Administration & Facilities support position. They have had a resignation from the employee i was covering and have made me an offer. I would like to increase this by $5000 per year. Can you help me?

I hope my message finds you well.
I have to state in a letter why I deserve to get a pay raise after I just got promoted. The new salary I am offered does not reflect what I think I deserve.Would it be possible to get some sample letters and guidance to make sure I make the most of the negotiation…

I would like to negotiate salary on a new job that I have been offered. In the interview I informed the HR representative that I would like to nett R30 000, they have offered me R25 000. The position is as an HR Manager.

Received a job offer & would like to write a letter negociating the wage they offered. I was employed employed by this company in the past & left 3 years ago & they have approach me to return but the wage offer is lower than what I was on at that time.

I got a job offer and know that I’ve been ‘low-balled’ and have an extensive background which demands higher compensation…. Also, I’m in the final stages of other job interviews which would pay substantially higher, but they haven’t given official offers yet.

Please can you send me through a salary negotiation sample? I am currently on a 60k salary in the events management industry as an event manager and I have been offered a job as a product manager in another industry to which I have no experience but they want me for the role. They have offered me 55k + bonuses if we meet targets but that would = to around $56k. I am wanting to negotiate a start rate of 60k or even a review after 3 month to be 60k.

I have a job as country programs manager for an NGO in Southern Africa. I have to establish the organization as it is new in the country and put all the necessary structures. However, the offer is low and it is just the same as my current package. Please send me sample letters for reference, many thanks.

I am working as a jonior insurance officer for more than six years, my performance appriasal is good.Above all I got MBA degree from Coventry university on part-time basis,yet my GM efuses to do any pay rise despite my experience and academic qualification.
I higly appreciate your help to provide me with a letter format to convince my GM to reconsider my salary which is virtualy low.
Best regards

Thanks for your comments. Glad the free samples helped you get your thoughts together. Asking for a salary increase is hard and can be scary. We provide the free sample letters to give you an immediate sense of what others have done successfully. Those are indeed isolated situations. The Salary Negotiation Guide gives a full system and approach to negotiating higher salaries whether switching jobs or within the same company. When utilizing the proven tactics in the guide, it has led to double-digit salary raises, even in this tough economy. Good luck with your raise request!

i have got offered appointment as a HR manager in a manufecturing co. but the salary offered is much less when compared with my salary in the present job . needed to write a latter to president HR for salary rise giving proper justification. thanks for the samples.

I used the springraise negotiation guide and got the unthinkable! Using the techniques got me $750,000.00 bonus when I switched financial firms mid-year. That NEVER happens in the finance world. Thanks springraise and David for helping me out.
-Anthony